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 Katerina Moutsatsos, actress (Greece, USA), 24/07/2009
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Katerina first came to the attention of the Greek audience with the television series 'Divorced with Children'. Other TV series soon followed for major TV channels in Greece, such as 'Cheek to Cheek', 'Gia sena', 'Tha se do sto plio', 'Me thea sto pelago', 'Teleutaios Paradeisos'. In 1999, by taking the lead role of the first Greek-Turkish film co-production, 'Kayikci' (The Boatman), her career took a new turn. Other feature films followed, such as 'Stream', 'The Flower of the Lake', 'Lisa and All the Others'. In addition to her roles in films and TV series in Greece and Turkey, Katerina has taken part in theatre productions. |
When you cried last time and, if no secret, for what reason? I just did and the reason could be briefly described as "crying about the strong human ties in a Greek family that end up being a masked blackmailing and controlling of each family member’s life and emotions in the name of Love". As a matter of fact, that type of "Love" should be put in quotation marks. The obvious, natural process of loving your "child" can very often grow to be a confusing feeling of owning it and wanting to control it. "I only want you to be happy" may sometime mean a parent’s own fantasy about his child’s happiness, rather than the child’s. It is not visible by the child at first, and rather than helping it out, in its professional or emotional process of growth in life, it tends to mislead it completely, filling it with remorseful feelings. Early in life, I realized that what was making me the happiest human being on earth made my parents the most miserable parents on earth. I once more cried for this unjust situation. I guess being an artist is pretty extreme for parents, including mine. Well, since I cannot freely express my real thoughts at home with my family, I thought I might as well go around the world to find some understanding.
There are some events during our life, when it seems as there is no way out. That could be tragic circumstances or such assessment of them. At that time, what's the thing to do? I don’t "do" hopelessness. It is a matter of a more general state of mind about life. There is always space for magic in the most desperate situations. Of course there is tragedy in life, and sometimes you have no option other than to live the desperation in the highest level. And that is where you get the strength, right there quite unexpectedly. It feels like a huge strength from nowhere that helps you deal with everything. There may be a faster way though to help one’s desperation, and that’s praying. I am not religious in terms of an institutionalized organized religion whose essential purpose is – we all know - money and power. I can pray anywhere about anything, small or big. God, I do it so much! And I must admit, hopelessness is rarely present when you are a believer of life and love in every step you take.
Could you please choose any event of last days, weeks or months, that has distressed you? It can be any happening on a local or international scale. How could you comment on it? As a Hellene, I cannot but refer to the riots that burst out in Athens back in December 2008 after the killing of 15 year-old young boy by a police officer, practically without any reason – the revolting "reason" being the young boy and his friends cursing at the officer. What I want to concentrate on right here though, is the events that followed this criminal act: demonstrations, breaking, looting, in short a people in social crisis. Hopeless, depressed citizens demonstrated their anger against… against what? Still nobody really knows. I would say they just found a way of expressing their wrath and frustration to the system, about the expensive life and the constantly decreasing quality of education. That is what I was saying then. Now, a few months later, when I came to visit Greece after being in Los Angeles for a year, I see people sitting at the cafes, drinking at bars, taking long week-ends, and trying to get away with it in the best way they can. That may be a way of fleeing reality. My way of fleeing, is to go away from Greece with the promise of coming back with what I got and DO something for the country. We’ll see if it works.
There's always a new danger watching for humanity in its way, always a new temptation we're ready succumb to. What's the danger of our days? And what's the way to avoid this trap? I don’t think the dangers have changed, or that there is a "new" danger. The dangers have always been the same, they just change form. In fact I would say that dangers are repeating themselves again and again in time. Now, it is up to humanity, or up the total of all human beings on earth to learn how to deal with them. I guess, now people are getting back to being more and more spiritual – which is how they were in the beginning of this era. That is the only way to survive an outside threat or trap. You cannot change the others, and most of the time you are in danger since you live on this planet. So the only solution is "dealing" with it. I like spirituality in combination with reality: I never want to get carried away and lose contact with the real thing. Knowledge is also useful, but "imagination is more important than knowledge" (Einstein), so living the reality while day-dreaming is the key to avoid any kind of trap.
What are the main obstructions to apply humanities principles at our today's life? Could they be solved? The problem is always the lack of getting all together, toward a specific cause. Generally, every one acts on their own behalf, trying to accommodate themselves. It is the ultimate selfishness, but this is what we learned in school - so we should not really feel bad at first: competition, antagonism, being the best, even "managing", all these are selfish acts. It takes a deep insight, through experience, knowledge, and inner feeling, to get past this and become a Human (with a capital H). Again, imagination plays a role here. Taking the time to imagine a better world is already a huge step. One can easily get lost in the daily routine of a colorless life. I am always opting for imaginary circumstances when I find myself in the middle of a harsh reality, and believe it or not, it helps solve a lot of problems. At the end of the day, if there is only one lesson we all came to learn in this world... It’s to learn how to be a Human. And yes, there is only one way to do it: through obstructions.
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| Comments: 2, would be great to get one of yours... |
memokalo, 01 Apr 2010 07:55 pm |
| are very nice |
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